Turning the Tables
by Alice E. Dodgson
Summary: When Hatter went to Alice's world he thought that every thing would fix itself. But when he and Alice go back for a visit they find that things aren't that simple. Plus, what happened to the friend that Hatter left behind…
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Hatter sat in his favorite chair, listening to Cheshire try to cheer him up.

"Come on, Hatter!" She said, "Alice has been gone for a week now, you need to let go. She wasn't really right for you. She's an Oyster, you're a Wonderlander. You should marry within your own kind."

She was laying with her legs behind her and her chin resting on her arms which she had folded across his leg and smiling up at him. Cheshire always smiled, no matter what her mood was. She smiled when she was happy, she smiled when she was sad, she even smiled when she was angry. It was the kind of smile that mattered. She was the closest thing to family that Hatter had, and was, with out a doubt his best friend (despite the fact that she was only 15, a whole 12 years younger than himself). He'd known her since she was 4 when he and Mad March (who had then been called Marchy and his best friend) had picked her up off the street and saved her life from the Resistance. He had taught her almost every thing she knew about fighting (she'd even taught him a thing or two), and she was brilliant at it. She was probably one of the best fighters in all of Wonderland and was extremely cleaver. There wasn't a puzzle or riddle in Wonderland that she couldn't figure out.

Hatter could barely hear Cheshire's words of advice as he thought about how stupid he'd been for not telling Alice how he felt about her when he'd had the chance. "You know you could come visit my world." she'd said, and what did he reply with? "Yeah! We could do pizza!" _Pizza_. Hatter thought, _Of all the stupid things to say-_

"Hatter, you can't just sit here and cry about it!"

That Hatter did hear and almost smiled. Sometimes Cheshire's unique way of cheering people up had been known to make them even more aggravated, and this was no exception .

He looked at her, meeting her dark eyed stare for a moment before looking away again.

Cheshire sighed and pushed back her royal blue hair (her hair had always been blue. She was just born that way) then looked back at him, a little frustrated.

"Hatter, really, you need to move on."

He didn't respond.

"Alice is killing you! You know she is! You haven't eaten, slept or even spoken since Alice left and, if I'm not mistaken, the only time you've left that chair has been to pace up and down, from here over to that wall about once or twice a day when you get restless."

Hatter ignored her.

Cheshire sighed. She just couldn't stand to see him like this. She made her decision and, slowly, she stood up. "Get up, Hatter. You're coming with me." Her voice sounded determined, but her face was full of resignation.

Hatter looked at her, questioningly.

"You're going to see Alice."

Hatter stood up abruptly, but he didn't look happy, as Cheshire thought he would. No, he was most certainly not happy. In fact, he looked like he was going kill Cheshire.

"Don't you dare!" He nearly screamed at her, shoving her back and making her fall. "Don't you dare tell me that I can do some thing that I know is impossible! Don't you dare tell me that I can be with Alice! Don't you dare give me false hope that I'll ever see the woman I love again!"

Cheshire had always had a short temper, and now she was past angry. Past mad. Past furious. She was homicidal. "Of all the no good, idiotic, asinine, ridiculous, just plan _STUPID_ people in the worlds, Hatter!" She was screaming at him and started walking threateningly toward him. "Why do you think its bloody _FALSE_ hope?"

"They're not letting any one go through the looking glass!" Hatter said.

"Who in Wonderland was stupid enough to tell you that?"

"The King! Jack Hart!"

Cheshire stopped and stared at him, her smile quickly becoming amused. "Well, I knew he didn't like you very much... Goodness... He must hate you!"

"What do you mean?" said Hatter.

"Well, if that's the case this is going to be harder than I thought..."

"What are you talking about?"

"But than again, if I-"

"Cheshire! What are you going on about?"

Cheshire's smile widened. "Hatter, you can go through the looking glass if you have consent from the king. But if Jack hates you that much... This could be…tricky..."

Hatter sat back down in his chair, absent mindedly spinning around, and said, more to him self then to Cheshire, "I'll kill him. I'm going to kill him."

Cheshire was thinking. Then slowly the words came out of her mouth: "I don't think you have to..."

Hatter curiously looked up to see Cheshire wearing a devious smile…

* * *

The blue haired girl walked into the throne room. It was only a temporary throne room. Jack had decided to build a whole new castle not far from were the casino had been, and this little house would have to do for now.

He looked at the girl for a moment. When she noticed Duchess she jerked her head sarcastically in her direction with a strange look on her face. Jack cleared his throat and she looked back at to him now smiling more sweetly. "Well, Miss… ah… What did you say your name was?" Jack asked.

"Cheshire." She was confident and calm yet still respectful which rather impressed Jack. Most adolescents her age were ether too timid or too cocky.

"Well then, Cheshire, what do you want?"

Cheshire gave him a dazzling smile. "I would like to go through the looking glass."

"For what reason?"

Cheshire shrugged. "Just curious, I suppose. I've never been there before. I've been every where in Wonderland. Every where worth going any ways."

"You mean you're an explorer." Jack confirmed. She nodded. "You seem a bit young to be an explorer." Jack said.

"In years, yes." She said, "But I've had a lot of experience!"

She seemed so enthusiastic that Jack almost laughed. "Very well. You may have your wish. I shall escort you to the looking glass, and see you off tomorrow."

"Thank you, your Majesty." Cheshire bowed deeply and started to leave then stopped and looked back at Duchess. "So I hear that you two are getting married?" Jack smiled and nodded. The girl managed to smile so broadly that her mouth seemed to almost touch her ears. "How lovely!" She said, "I'm sure all your dreams and wishes are coming true, aren't they, Duchess?" She gave Duchess one last smile before she turned on her heel and left.

"Nice girl." Jack said to himself. He glanced at Duchess and saw that she'd turned as white as a sheet. "What's wrong, my love?" he asked her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"What?" she said, turning to look at him. "Oh!" She smiled although the color had not fully returned to her face. "I was just thinking about... It's nothing." She put her hand on his then stood up and hurried out of the room, leaving Jack alone and confused.

* * *

Outside, Hatter was leaning up against the wall. "How did it go?" he asked.

Cheshire smiled. "He fell for it! You're going tomorrow and I didn't even have to lie too much."

Hatter laughed then gave her tight hug and lifted her off the ground. "Cheshire, I love you! You're amazing!"

"Of course I am!" Cheshire said, "Now put me down, I can barley breath!"

Hatter placed her back on the ground and they began walking back to Hatter's tea shop.

Cheshire managed to wait until Hatter's back was turned before she started to cry…

* * *

Cheshire walked into the Looking Glass house, carrying Hatter's suitcases and stood, and waiting for Jack.

Hatter entered right behind her. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Cheshire said, she had to tell him. "Hatter, I… I've always…" she swallowed.

"What is it?" Hatter asked.

_Oh, for goodness sake__, Cheshire!_ She thought, _Just tell him!_

"Hatter, I've… ever since I met you-"

"Well, Miss Cheshire, are you ready?"

Cheshire spun around to see Jack who stopped when he saw Hatter.

"What are you doing here, Hatter?" He said firmly.

"Seeing off a friend." Hatter said.

Jack looked a little bit… was it nervous?

"Don't worry, Jack." said Hatter, giving him half a smile, "I know why you lied to me. Besides, what could I _do _about it?"

"Right then," said Jack still a little uneasy, "are you ready, Miss Cheshire?"

"Yes, I just-"

"Well than, come along." Jack took her arm and forcefully led her to the looking glass then placed the ring (that had caused so much trouble) in the little box to restart it.

Cheshire pushed Hatter's suitcases through the looking glass, and acted like she was about to step through when Hatter came up the stairs that led to it.

"Wait." He said and placed his hat (a black top) on her head. "You might want something to remember me by."

Cheshire couldn't stop the tears from running down her face, this would be the last time she ever saw him.

"Hatter, I-"

"All right, Hatter. That's enough." Jack said.

"Go, Hatter." Cheshire whispered.

Hatter kissed the top of her forehead. Then, as quick as lightning, he went through the looking glass.

"Good bye…" Cheshire said, a tear running down her cheek. Then with speed equal to that of Hatter's, she snatched the ring out of the box and placed it on her own finger then clenched her hand into a fist that no one could unclench and stood in front of Jack so that he couldn't go through.

Jack looked at her, angrily. "You tricked me!" he said.

Cheshire glared at him. "Of course I tricked you, fool!" she said, "Why would _I_ ever want to go to the Oyster World? I _hate_ Oysters!"

He tried to push her out of the way to go after Hatter but Cheshire grabbed him by the arm and jerked him around. Once he was off balanced she kicked him in the chest and he fell to the floor were she pined him down. "Regretting not bringing any Suits now, Jack?" She said, "Didn't think a young girl would give you any trouble that you couldn't deal with, did you?"

"I demand you let me up." Jack said.

"You're not exactly in a position to order me about, are you?" Cheshire said.

"I am your King!"

Cheshire raised an eye brow. "Does it look like I care?"

"I could have you put in prison for this."

"I'd like to see you try." Cheshire said.

"Hatter was on a list of people that couldn't go to the Oyster World." Jack said.

"Well, you might as well take him off because he's there now." Cheshire said, "I don't want him to be in that world with her anymore then you do, but he has to be."

"What are you talking about?"

"He would have died!" she said, "He needs that miserable girl!" She glanced behind her and stood up. "I believe the looking-glass is closed now. You can get up. And you can have this back" (she held up her hand and wiggled her fingers showing him the ring), "When I think that you can handle it."

"Do you know how many laws you are breaking?" Jack demanded.

"Let me see," Cheshire said, thoughtfully, "I attacked the King, I helped someone that the king had wanted to keep in Wonderland go to the Oyster World, I'm stealing the stone of Wonderland right in front of you. Am I forgetting anything?"

"You will be taken back with me and put in jail until the prison is complete." Jack said.

"Jacky, you can't take me back on your own." Cheshire said, "You'd never manage it."

"I'll come back with Suits and hunt you down."

"You will never find me." Cheshire said, "Now as much as I've enjoyed this, I really should be going. Enjoy your life with Duchess. I hope you won't mind that I won't be attending the wedding. Try and be a good king, don't do anything stupid." She turned to leave.

"You said 'he would have died'," Jack said when she was half way out the door. "What did you mean?" She turned and looked at him. The world was suddenly blurry and Cheshire found that her eyes were full of tears. "He wasn't eating or sleeping of even talking. I'm sorry, I have to go." She ran out, sobbing uncontrollably.

She knew she would never see the man that she had loved all her life ever again. Definitely not, with the luck that she had. But the thing about luck is it's _always_ changing…

* * *

**And she's back! See I didn't die on you. I'm **_**reeeaaaally **_**sorry this took so long to get up, I've got the next 2 chapters coming up too and I'll get the rest up as fast as I can. **

**Hope you're enjoying this and that you enjoy the rest of it and don't forget to review and that I'd like you to be completely blunt and tell me **_**exactly **_**what is wrong with my story!**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Cheshire absentmindedly spun around in Hatter's chair.

After the Suits had tried to burn down Hatter's old tea shop the day before, the others had told her not to go back. They said that if the Suits got hold of her they would be unable to save her but she didn't care. She liked spending any time she could there. Some nights, when thing's were quiet with the Resistance, she would go back there and stay the night. She felt closer to Hatter when she was there, as if part of him still remained.

It had been 12 years since Hatter had left and Cheshire's heart still longed for him. Her attitude alone made her unrecognizable: She never laughed any more; the closest thing to telling a joke making was rude and sarcastic comments when someone was being stupid, she barely talked at all anymore except when she was planning. Most of all, she never smiled. Nothing could be done to put a smile on her stony face after Hatter had stepped through the looking glass and out of her life.

Cheshire now knew why Hatter had acted so strange when the person that he loved had left because she felt his pain. Hatter hadn't eaten because he wasn't hungry, he hadn't spoken because he had nothing to say, and now Cheshire wasn't sleeping well because every time she closed her eyes she saw Hatter and every time she forced herself into sleep she dreamed of him and woke in tears. 12 _long_ years…

Cheshire sighed and stopped spinning. She stood up and walked to the shelf where all the old emotions sat.

She picked up a bottle labeled PEACE and smirked. Peace. She'd never known peace in her life. Never! Not once! But no, wait. She had once. It was oh so long ago, when she was only 6 years old. Hatter had just gotten a new apartment, and Marchy had taken her to see him. They had stayed there for a long time and Cheshire had fallen asleep. She remembered feeling Hatter's strong but gentle arms lift her off the floor and place her on the couch, wrapping a blanket around her. Cheshire remembered that short moment of complete and undeniable peace before falling into an uneasy sleep.

Cheshire blinked back her tears at the memory. She wanted to drink the whole bottle. To experience that feeling of peace one more time before the overdose killed her. She uncapped the bottle and pressed it to her lips…

She stopped. She couldn't do it. Death had been the one thing she was scared of when she was little (apart from the lake). She wasn't scared of it any more, but to deliberately kill yourself… that was something she could never do…

She dipped her finger into the bottle of PEACE, getting a shining drop of the emotion, and then let it fall onto her tongue. It had the soothing taste of chamomile tea and made Cheshire feel better then she'd felt in 12 years. Age had strengthened the PEACE and made her suddenly feel very sleepy so she went over to Hatter's bed and lay down. She closed her eyes, the overwhelming feeling of peace blocked out the image of Hatter she usually saw and she fell into a deep sleep…

* * *

When Cheshire awoke she was no longer in bed. No, she was most certainly not in bed. She was in a room that Hatter had told her about: The Truth Room, and there, before her were the two men that Hatter had told her about: Dr. Dee and Dr. Dum. If Cheshire had been frighten or surprised she didn't show it on her face.

"Hello, I am Dr. Dee and this is my brother, Dr. Dum." They both gave her identical cruel smiles.

Cheshire's face remained stony. "Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee agreed to have a battle;" she said repeating a poem she'd heard once, "For Tweedle Dum said Tweedle Dee had spoiled his nice new rattle. Just then flew down a monstrous crow, as black as a tar-barrel. Which frightened both the heroes so, they quite forgot their quarrel."

"I know what you're thinking," said Dr. Dum (or was it Dr. Dee) "but it isn't so, Nohow."

"Contrariwise," continued Dr. Dee (or perhaps Dr. Dum?) "if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic."

Cheshire looked at them. She knew they were trying to confuse her and she almost laughed. _They _were trying to confuse _her_. She smirked at them and _very_ quickly said: "Well then logic must be wrong because I'm always right. So what I was thinking is so, and what you were thinking obviously is _not_ so despite logic which is, in it's self, illogical."

She had a short moment of triumph when they both looked at each other blankly, before the both started talking and the room started to spin. "Relax." They said together, "Let your mind go and allow yourself to fall into a deep sleep…"

With out meaning to, Cheshire found herself doing as they said…

* * *

Alice happily waited for Hatter to come home. They had been engaged for nearly 3 months now, Alice had been so surprised when they'd gone out to dinner at the Gramercy Tavern fallowed by a walk around Central Park and Hatter suddenly knelt before her on one knee by the Alice in Wonderland statue and asked her to be his wife. She had been even more surprised when she'd heard herself say "Yes!"

She heard the door open and close "Alice?" Hatter called.

"I'm here!" she said. She went into the hall and found him hanging up his jacket.

Alice gave him a hug and he kissed her. "So how was your day, David?" Alice's mother, Carol asked.

"It was alright, I suppose." He said, "Alice, I need to speak with you, privately."

Alice looked at him, a little confused. "Okay" she said walking into the bedroom. He followed her.

"So what is it?" she asked him.

"Do you know what tomorrow is, Alice?" He asked.

Alice looked at him. "No." she said.

"Tomorrow, I will have been gone for a year." Hatter said.

Wonderland. Alice had nearly forgotten! He was right! Tomorrow would be the anniversary of the day that she'd gone through the looking glass to find Jack (and found something much better)! She smiled at Hatter who didn't smile back. Alice stopped smiling and studied him.

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"I want to go home, Alice." He said, "I don't have to go for a long time. But, tomorrow, I'm going home. I'd love for you to come, but I'll understand if you don't."

Alice really did not want to go back to Wonderland. She had a lot of bad memories there; Her father dying, nearly being killed (several times), FLYING! She really didn't want to go.

Alice looked at Hatter. His eyes were full of longing. She knew what he wanted. He wanted her to be with him. He wanted to take her to Wonderland. Hatter was going to Wonderland, with or without her, but he really wanted her to go.

Alice sighed, "Well then," she said, "how do we do this?"

Hatter smiled and kissed her. "Leave it to me." He said, and kissed her more.

* * *

**Don't forget to give completely honest reviews!**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Cheshire opened her eyes. She was in the forest of Wabe. Her first thought was to go to the fortress and contact the resistance, but then she remembered Dr. Dee and Dr. Dum. There was no way they would just let her go. No way! No way at all!

_They must be watching me._ Cheshire thought.

She looked around. She knew were she was, so she started walking. She walked like she had a goal, like she had a destination, when really all she wanted was to not go to the fortress.

Cheshire heard something and looked up then stopped dead in her tracks. Up ahead of her was a figure she recognized. He didn't seem to have noticed her yet.

"Hatter!" she yelled and ran to him.

He turned around just in time to brace himself for the incredible bear hug she gave him which nearly knocked him over.

"Hatter, I missed you _so much!_" she said, hugging him even tighter, the words poured out of her mouth before she even knew she saying them, "I love you, Hatter. Please don't leave me ever again! I love you! With all my heart! I always have." That was when she noticed it. Hatter wasn't hugging her back, in fact he was trying to push her away.

Cheshire released him. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Hatter smirked at her. "You really are a stupid, little girl, aren't you." he said.

Cheshire took a step back in shock. "What?" The word came as a whisper, barely breaking the silence.

The smirk became even more cruel. "You _love _me do you? Well I'd feel sorry for you if you were worth my sympathy. You're nothing. How could you ever even think to compare with Alice! She's a better fighter, nicer, sweeter, funnier, and _far _more attractive, though that isn't very hard. Look at you! How could anyone love a thing like you?"

Cheshire felt tears running down her face. "And she doesn't cry as much as you do!" said Hatter, sounding disgusted.

Cheshire looked up abruptly. Hatter wasn't looking at her, so she buried her head in her hands and pretended to be crying when she was thinking. Hatter had only ever seen her cry twice: once when Marchy went from being their beloved friend to the evil Mad March when she was 10 and then again when Hatter had left. Apart from that she'd never cried in front of him. Something was wrong.

"And this, _place!_" Hatter continued, gesturing all-around himself, "This horrible world. There's nothing that can be done for it now. You might as well give up trying to save it. There's nothing left that's worth saving."

This couldn't be Hatter, and if it was he'd drunk far too much SELF-DECEIT (an emotion Cheshire knew the Casino didn't make).

Suddenly, Cheshire got an idea. She straitened up and looked at him. Her face impossible to read.

_One more test. _She thought. When she and Hatter had been training together Hatter would always use an attack method that was simple but successful and Cheshire got tired of him always ending the fight by pining her to the ground. So she developed a move that had forced Hatter to take a different form of attack.

"If I'm such a bad fighter," she said slowly walking back until there was a good distance between them, "fight me now!"

Hatter looked at her surprised.

"What? Are you afraid?" Cheshire mocked. Another thing Cheshire was known for: Making even the calmest man snap. "What could you be afraid of if I'm such a terrible fighter! Or maybe you're just a coward!"

Hatter took a deep breath and charged her.

Cheshire's stony face fell and was replaced by white hot fury. _Failed the test! _She thought and waited until he was about 2 feet away from her. Then she dropped to the ground and rolled at him. He fell to the ground and quick as a flash Cheshire got to her feet and pined him down. She tucked his hands under her so he couldn't move and her own hands were free.

She punched him, hard, and felt his nose break.

"Which one are you?" Cheshire asked, "Are you Dee or Dum? Because you look pretty _dumb_ to me!" She hit him even harder, all of her anger she'd been hiding for 12 years flared up and she brought it all out on this impostor.

The other brother came up behind Cheshire and tried to pull her off her victim. That was his mistake. Cheshire had you-sneak-up-on-me-and-I'll-break-your-neck reflexes.

In one swift movement she stood up, spun around, and kicked him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.

He fell to the ground, just as the imposter came up and tried to hold her back. Cheshire brought her foot back behind and kicked him. She didn't know where she had kicked him but, seeing as he let out a loud yelp and fell over it had _really _hurt!

Cheshire didn't have a lot of time to celebrate though, because the other man had recovered and tried to get a hold of her.

_Oh for goodness sake! _Cheshire thought, _Why can't they stay down! _She seized her attacker's hands and flipped him over her shoulder like she'd seen 12 years ago.

"Well what do you know!" Cheshire said to herself, "Something good _did _come from Alice's visit!"

Then the false Hatter came up unexpectedly and pinned her against a tree.

Cheshire let out a growl of anger. "What do I have to do!" she said, "Kill you?"

"If you kill us," the imposter said, (Cheshire shivered at hearing Hatter's voice using that tone, "You'll never get out of here alive! You might as well give up!"

Cheshire looked at him. "I'm never getting out of here alive?" she asked, she posed as if considering the idea, "I think I'll go down fighting, if you don't mind." She kneed him in the groin, making him double over in pain, then with all her might she deliver a blow to his head and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"And that, my friend," Cheshire said to his unmoving body and striating her jacket, "Is what happens when you insult my intelligence!"

Cheshire looked at him angrily and felt a tear run down her face. She knew this wasn't Hatter but he looked just like him and his voice sounded exactly the same, and she had just caused him serious pain.

She shook her head and wiped away her silly tears_. It's not really him_. She thought _It's an illusion of some kind or another._

She heard a noise behind her and spun around. There stood the remaining Doctor. with a strange stick in his hand. Cheshire groaned. She knew what the stick was. It was the same torture device that Dr. Dee and Dr. Dum had used when they had Hatter.

"I _really_ hate my life." she said. The evil Doctor took the stick and jabbed it into her stomach, sending electricity through her body. Cheshire let out a blood curdling scream of pain as he held it there for what felt like an eternity and she blacked out.

* * *

Hatter was the luckiest man in the worlds! He was finally going home and Alice was going with him!

He stood in the door way and waited for Alice. They had told Carol that they were going out for the night when they were really going out for the week.

Hatter had figured that if Alice had only been gone for an hour and had been in Wonderland for over 3 days and then he had arrived mere moments after she had when he had been in Wonderland for a week then there must be something that made time work differently from this world and Wonderland.

He didn't know for sure when they would get back, but it couldn't be more then a few hours as far as Carol would know.

"Bye mom." Alice said as she put her purple velvet coat on.

"See you later, Carol." Hatter said, holding the door open for Alice.

"See you later." Carol called after them.

Hatter open the car door for Alice then went around and got in himself. He hesitated before starting the engine. "Do you want me to drive?" Alice asked.

"No." Hatter said, and turned the key in the ignition. You'd think that after a year he would be used to cars, but he wasn't. He really didn't like driving. The closest thing to a car he'd ever driven before coming to this world was a boat and, he had discovered, they were completely different. He carefully pulled out.

Alice sighed, looking up at the window that her mother was watching them from. "You wouldn't have to drive if we could just tell her." she said.

"Alice, I want to tell her just as much as you do." Hatter said, "But if you're daughter came to you and told you that she'd met her fiancé in a world that you don't believe exists what would you think?"

Alice sighed again and said "I know, but sometimes I wish that Wonderland wasn't so... unbelievable."

Hatter looked at her. She looked so up set. "We're nearly there." He said, trying to lighten her mood.

He parked in a place that was hidden but not so obviously so that it wouldn't draw suspicion. He got out of the car and went around too let Alice out.

When Alice got out of the car she still looked unhappy. "Come here." Hatter said. She walked over to him and he pulled her close and kissed her lovingly.

"Now," he said, his face just inches from hers, "are you ready to go?"

Alice smiled, "Yes." she said. He smiled and kissed her again.

When they drew apart Hatter took her hand and they started walking to the looking glass and it wasn't long before they saw it looming up at them.

"Ready?" Hatter asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Alice said, and was about to step through the looking glass when Hatter threw out his arm, stopping her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I- Nothing." He said looking around. Hatter was just a confused as she was. Just in that moment he sensed danger and instinctively stopped her from walking into it.

Nothing was wrong, but _something _was wrong. Hatter shook his head, and took hold of Alice's hand. "Come on." He said, "We'll go together." He tried to smile but the feeling of unease made it more of a grimace and they stepped through the looking glass.

* * *

When they arrived on the other side, Alice tripped and Hatter caught her and helped her to her feet.

Then he froze. "What's going on?" Alice asked.

"Something's wrong." Hatter said. He looked around, trying to find the source of his unease. Then he realized how everything was perfectly clean without the slightest trace of dust or dirt "People have been coming through here. That's what's wrong!" Hatter said, "When I left there weren't supposed to be that many people coming through. This place looks like people have been coming and going ever week or so."

Hatter turned and looked at Alice, full of fear, "Alice, something's happened. Something bad. You need to go home."

"Why are we-?"

"_We _aren't doing anything. _You _are going home! I need to stay here and help with what ever I can. you'll see me in... A day or two."

"You mean an _hour _of two, right?" said Alice, stating to sound worried "You know how time works differently in my world."

"I know, Alice," Hatter said, "and I mean what I say. I might be here for along time, until what ever is going on is fixed."

"Then I'm staying with you!" said Alice.

"No, Alice." Hatter tried, "It's too dangerous. I won't let you-"

"I'm not leaving you!" Alice said determined.

Hatter remembered another time he'd tried to keep Alice out of danger. She wouldn't just let him take care of the jabberwock alone ether and that was before she cared for him.

Hatter reached out and pulled Alice into him and kissed her until he couldn't breath. Then he released her and said "Alice, I'm really, very sorry about this." and he pushed her back through the looking glass, then hurried over to the side and took the ring so she couldn't get back.

"She's going to kill me when I get back." He said to himself, and ran out the door.

What he saw when he got outside sent a chill down his spine. "Oh no!" he said, staring at the Happy Hearts Casino. His mind started working fast. _Resistance! _He thought, _Where could the resistance be? _Not the library, it had been made public when Jack had taken power. _Charlie! _Hatter thought _The fortress! _Jack had kept it a secret incase he ever needed a place to hide. He started running and wasn't going to stop until he got there

* * *

Jack was starting to get annoyed. They knew that Cheshire was in the truth room because of her own stupidity and yet Charlie and Duchess were still up set about it.

"Come on, you two!" he said "We have work that needs to be done!"

They looked at him. "There isn't much that can he done without Lady Cheshire." Charlie said

"They could kill her, Jack." said Duchess.

"We told her not to go back." Jack said, "She went back anyway. If she dies it's her own doing."

"But she-" Duchess was interrupted by the sound of the "Early Warning System" and every ones hands jumped to their weapons. Jack and Charlie drew their swords and Duchess pulled out her knife.

"Duchess." Jack whispered, and she nodded and ran up to the watch tower.

Jack and Charlie looked around and waited for Duchess's report. She soon came down out of the watch tower.

"Well?" Jack asked.

The look on Duchess's face was of pure shock. "It's-"

Before she could tell them, the intruder burst through the trees and collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

"Ow." he said.

"Hatter!" Duchess finished, "What are you doing here?"

Hatter didn't seem to hear her. He stood up and looked at Jack. "What's going on, Jack." He said, "Why is the Casino back?"

Jack sighed and started to explain: "Not all the Suits that pledged there allegiances to me were loyal. Some of them were still loyal to my mother. So they came to me and asked if they could rebuild the Casino as a sort of museum of what Wonderland once was like. I granted there wish and-"

"What?" Hatter said, shocked, "You actually _let_ them rebuild the Casino?"

"I didn't think-"

"Obviously you didn't think!"

"Hatter," Duchess said soothingly, "Let him finish."

"They were taking direction from my mother in prison," Jack continued, "and getting more and more of my men to join them, until, one night they released my mother and would have arrested me and Duchess, but we were warned by the last of my men that were still loyal. Unfortunately they were killed as we escaped. And now this is the whole of the resistance. All the old members are dead or have given up hope."

Hatter stared at him. "This is it?" he asked looking about him. Then he seemed to think of something, "Where's Cheshire?"

"Cheshire?" Jack repeated.

"Yeah, she helped me get to the Oyster world. You must remember. I know that she would be in the resistance, she would _never _give up hope."

Jack took a deep breath, but didn't answer. Hatter looked around at them. They all had a strange look on their faces. He took a step closer. "Where is she, Jack?" he said again.

"They got her." Duchess said.

Hatter's face turned pale and he looked at Charlie. "I need a horse." He said.

"You can take the brown one in the stable. Her name is Nimue." Charlie said. Hatter started to walk quickly in the direction he had indicated.

Jack stopped him. "What do you think you're doing, Hatter?" he said.

"I'm going to save my friend and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Hatter started to walk away again but Jack had a tight grip on his arm.

"Hatter, it would be suicide." Jack said "She'll be fine."

"Jack she's in the truth room. I know she is! It's impossible to get out of there on your own, and if she doesn't get out they are going to kill her." Hatter shook his arm free, "I'm not going to let her die." He turned to walk away.

"You got out on you're own." Jack said.

Hatter froze at the memory and said, without turning, "I got lucky. I got out because a man with a glass head came in and sent the other two away. " he ran the rest of the way to the stable.

"You're not going to let him go are you?" Duchess asked. Jack nodded and Duchess stared at him. "Jack if he steps foot in the Casino he as good as dead!"

"It's his choice." Jack said.

"Well if you won't talk some sense into him I will!" she said and followed Hatter into the stable.

* * *

Hatter was saddling the horse when Duchess came in.

"I don't care what you say I'm going after Cheshire." He said without even looking up.

"Hatter you can't do this!" she said.

"Watch me." He said, "You're not the Queen any more, Jack's not the King. You don't have any authority over me."

"We're the leaders of the resistance!" Duchess said.

"I'm not _in _the resistance."

"Hatter, we need you to be alive!"

Hatter looked at her but didn't stop what he was doing. "When I get back, you'll have me _and _Cheshire." Having saddled Nimue he swung himself up onto her back "I'm getting Cheshire out. She's too young to die!" he said and started on his way.

Duchess stopped him. "Hatter this is madness!" she said.

Hatter almost smiled. "No surprise there." he said and galloped away, leaving Duchess worried and just a little confused.

* * *

**This is the last chapter that I can post for a little while but I'll get the next one up ASAP and remember to**

**give completely honest reviews!**

**V**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Cheshire was slowly regaining consciousness. The first thing she noticed was pain; her whole body hurt, as if she had been bitten by a venomous bandersnatch. Or, maybe 10 bandersnatch! Cheshire's head was what hurt the most, though. She went to massage her temples and made her second discovery: she couldn't move her arms.

This worried Cheshire, deeply. She looked down to see what was wrong and, slowly, her hands came into focus.

She let out a sigh of relief; nothing was wrong with her arms. She was tied to a chair, that's all.

Cheshire leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes. Suddenly, the clouds lifted from her mind and she remembered that if you wake up tied to a chair, all is not well!

She sat up and opened her eyes, looking about her. She was back in the Truth Room. Well, not exactly back in the Truth Room. It wasn't the same Truth Room Cheshire had been in before, but she still recognized it.

Oh, yes. She recognized the room that Hatter had described to her. She recognized the room where Hatter had said that his darkest fear (being entirely helpless) had been brought to life.

Cheshire groaned. She had a bad feeling about what was about to happen.

Her greatest fear was that Hatter would reject her. That Hatter would hate her and not even be her friend anymore. They had tried to bring that fear to life but she had seen through it. Now they were going to torture her, the same way that they had tortured Hatter.

Dr. Dee and Dum noticed that Cheshire was no longer unconscious. "Ah, she's awake!" said one of them.

Cheshire looked at them closely; one of them had a recently broken nose (which meant that he had been the one who'd impersonated Hatter), and then she noticed something in their smiles.

Before when they smiled at her, they had been mischievous, like a child holding a magnifying glass over an insect, and now this insect had bitten them and they wanted to crush it. But the insect knew something and they couldn't kill it until it told them the secret or they would be punished.

"Now maybe you can tell us," said Dr. Dum (at least she thought it was Dr. Dum, as he was the one with the broken nose), "where is the Resistance hiding?"

Cheshire looked at them. "Why?" she asked.

"If you don't tell us," said Dr. Dee, "We will kill you."

Cheshire surprised them by actually laughing (humorless though the laugh was). "You're going to kill me ether way! And if I tell you you'll kill me and my friends! Well, acquaintances," She added, remembering that she really couldn't call anyone in the Resistance a friend.

Dr. Dee gripped the torture device and dug it into her side. Cheshire let out scream of pain and both Doctors smiled.

Dr. Dee walked around her and dug the device into her other side. She bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming. The pain was so unbearable! She could barely breathe! Her mind was starting to fill itself with clouds and she couldn't focus.

She tried to clear her thoughts with a happy memory. Then Dr. Dee said something to her. "Why do you care so much about this Hatter?"

Cheshire nearly jumped when he said this. Did he know what she was thinking? Why would he ask that question?

"He left you here," continued Dr. Dum, "All by yourself."

"12 years is a long time," Said Dr. Dee, "Why do you still care for him?"

Cheshire was not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She held back her tears, with some difficulty, and didn't look at them.

Dr. Dee sent another bolt of electricity through her body and laughed when she screamed.

Then, Cheshire heard something-a whistle; an impossible whistle; A whistle that she had not heard in a very long time.

The whistle was followed by the unmistakable sound of someone being punched and falling to the ground.

Cheshire resisted the urge to look up and listened closely.

"Well! Speak of the devil!" Came the Doctor's voice behind her.

It can't be! Cheshire thought, and looked out of the corner of her eye. What she saw made her heart skip a beat. Hatter! Then she saw something else, Hatter had knocked out Dr. Dum! And Dee was the one that had a weapon!

Cheshire made a quick decision. She carefully pushed her chair back so that all the weight was on the back legs then threw the chair back knocking Dr. Dee over.

She heard him scream so he must have landed on the torture device.

"Cheshire, are you al-" Hatter broke off when he saw her. "Cheshire?"

"Hatter," Cheshire said, "This is a lot less comfortable then it looks so if you could just..?"

"Oh, right, of course!" Hatter said and pulled her chair up. He took the torture device from Dr. Dee who was now unconscious, and then took out a sheathed knife that Cheshire recognized from Charlie's stables and started to cut through the ropes.

"You're older," Hatter said, "How long have I been gone?" he asked.

"12 years," Cheshire responded.

Hatter stopped cutting for a brief moment and looked at her. "12 years!" he repeated. "How long has the Queen been back?"

"6 years."

Hatter went back to cutting. "I'm sorry. I should have come back sooner."

"It doesn't matter!" said Cheshire, her old smile finally returning. "You're here now and that's all I care about!"

Hatter had finished with her hands and started cutting the rope binding her feet. For lack of something better to do Cheshire crossed her arms and studied him. "What in Wonderland did you do to your hair?" she asked.

Hatter looked at her for a moment, confused. "What do you mean?"

"It's all flat and looks terrible!"

Cheshire tried to fix it with her hands and make it curl around his hat. Hatter laughed a little, "If you don't comb out your hair in the Oyster world every one'll give you dirty looks!"

"Well you're not in the Oysters world now! You're home!"

Hatter finished cutting her ropes, stood up and sheathed the knife. Cheshire stood up too and threw herself into his arms. "I missed you so much!" she said with elation.

Hatter hugged her back for a moment, "I missed you too," He said, and then pushed her away. "But we need to get out of here." He started walking in the direction from where he'd come.

Cheshire started to follow him, and then noticed how light her head felt and how chilly she was. "Where's my hat and jacket?" she asked.

Hatter stopped walking and slowly turned around, giving her a dirty look.

"Please?" she said giving him a little girl-ish sort of begging look.

Hatter sighed. "You're a grown woman but your little girl charm still works! Come on. I think I know where they put them."

Cheshire smiled, "Thank you!"

"Over here." Hatter said, feeling the wall. "Here it is," He said and threw his weight against the wall which suddenly became a door. Hatter reached in and took out a black leather jacket and a top hat.

"This is the hat I gave you," He said, looking at it.

"Yep," Cheshire said taking it from him and putting it on her head. "Did you want it back?"

"Oh! No, no," he said, "I just noticed."

Cheshire smiled. "Come on, then. Let's go!" she said.

Hatter led the way out of the Truth Room. "Walk quickly," he whispered "keep your head down, don't look at any one, don't do anything suspicious and put the torture device in your jacket so they can't see it. I've got a horse outside. Got it?"

"Right," Cheshire said.

They were almost to the door when someone saw them. "Oi! You!" came a voice.

Hatter and Cheshire looked around, spotting a tall man that was walking toward them. Cheshire felt Hatter's body tense next to her. He recognized him, and so did she.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" the man asked.

Hatter shrugged. "Trying for a job," He lied, "I think I said something really stupid, though; probably not going to get it."

"What? Both of you?" he asked.

"Oh, no," said Cheshire, giving the man a dazzling smile, "I'm just his ride home."

"All right, then," Said the man. Hatter and Cheshire started to walk toward the door again when the man stopped them once more.

"Wait a moment," He said looking at Hatter, "Do I know you?"

"Never seen you before in my life," Hatter replied swiftly and tried to walk away, but the man grabbed his arm and pulled him around so that he could look at him.

"I do know you! You're that guy that did the fancy hat trick and broke in 12 years ago!"

Hatter tried to pull his arm free but was unsuccessful.

The man started shouting. "Oi! We've got intruders!"

Cheshire took out the torture device and dug it into the man's side. He screamed in pain and, after a long moment, he finally collapsed onto the ground, pulling Hatter down with him.

"So much for 'Don't do anything suspicious'," she said trying not to laugh.

Hatter shook himself free of the man's grip. "Come on," He said, "We need to get out of here!" They looked at the doors; at least 20 Suits were guarding them now, and more Suits were coming-closing in on them

Cheshire looked at Hatter. "Run?" she asked, casually.

"Run," he confirmed. They both took off running as fast as they could, looking for another way out. Cheshire spotted the elevators. "There!" she said, and started to run to them. Hatter followed her.

They got to the elevators and punched the UP button. Miraculously the doors opened immediately.

They rushed in and the doors closed behind them. Hatter pushed the button for the roof.

"Well this feels familiar," Hatter said.

Cheshire laughed a little and looked down at her feet. "I hate these shoes!" She said looking at her black high heeled boots.

"Then why do you wear them?" Hatter asked.

"They're good to wear in a fight." She said, "If I kick someone the heel can act as a sort of knife. I can run in them too if I run on my toes. But that isn't always as easy as it sounds. I prefer to…" she stopped talking as the light glinted off something on Hatter's hand.

"What's that?" she asked staring, "You left all your rings and you've never worn a ring on that finger."

Hatter fallowed her gaze. "Oh, that's just my engagement ring."

"Engagement ring?" Cheshire repeated, "You… You mean that… You're going to marry Alice?"

"Yes," Hatter confirmed. Cheshire could feel her heart breaking. She turned away from Hatter hoping he wouldn't notice that she was trying not to cry.

She saw that they were nearly to the roof and Cheshire suddenly thought of something: Hatter had had difficulty with shaking off the Suit, something that he could have easily done before. Hatter had lost his touch!

"Hatter, let me take care of this, Ok?" She said.

Hatter looked at her. "Cheshire, you can't take on who knows how many Suits on your own. No one is that good of a fighter, not even you."

Cheshire looked at him out of the corner of her eye and gave him half of smile. "Who said anything about fighting?" she said "Just come in and take them out when I laugh, got it?" at that moment the elevator dinged.

She placed her hands on either side of the frame and turned her head so that her silhouette was facing out of the elevator then she put on a devilish smile and looked out of the corner of her eye through her long blue hair as the doors opened to reveal four Suits.

"Hello, boys," She said, her voice dropped so that it became deep and alluring. She slowly turned her head to look at them. "Lonely?"

They looked at each other then back to her. She flipped her hair back and started toward them.

"I bet they work you too hard here," She said looking from under her eyelashes.

Cheshire approached the Suit in the middle and caressed his face.

She brought her face close to his. "It's a shame." She winked at the other men. They were all looking at her pleasurably curious. They started to close in on her.

Cheshire flirted a little more, putting her arms around two while speaking to the others.

She was growing more and more uneasy and finally she said something and laughed. Then continued talking until she heard a crash and she and the Suits all looked up. Hatter hadn't been paying attention and had tripped over a pot in his hast.

"Sorry, boys!" Cheshire said grabbing the necks of two and hitting their heads together knocking them both out instantly.

"Let's see what you got!" Cheshire said to one of the remaining Suits as Hatter went to fight the other. He tried to punch her on the right but she jumped to the left. He tried to punch her on the left but she jumped to the right. He tried to punch her straight in the face and she bent back, then she reached up and grabbed his hand and did a back flip so that she landed on top of him. Then she punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

She shook the pain out of her head and stood up. Hatter was still fighting his opponent, and losing.

Cheshire got an idea. She looked at the air just off the side of the roof next to where they were fighting, and then concentrated on moving her whole body to that spot but leaving her feet behind. She felt the familiar pain and all but her feet disappeared and reappeared where she had been looking.

"Excuse me," She said. The man looked around and was about to hit her when he saw that she was standing on thin air he froze, giving Hatter time to hit him in the face and knock him out.

Then Hatter turned to her. "What, exactly, is going on?" he demanded. Cheshire reconnected herself with her feet. "I'll tell you later," She said when Hatter found her, "For now we need to get out of here! It's a miracle that more Suits haven't come already!" She walked over to one of the three Flying Flamingos and pushed the button for it to start. It roared into life and flew off with no one on it.

"Why did you do that?" Hatter asked.

"Slow down the Suits! Now do you want to share one or go separate?" Cheshire said. She was really mad at him. Not only did he break her heart, but he broke her heart by asking a woman that she absolutely hated to marry him! And, on top of that, he had nearly screwed up their escape by tripping over that pot!

"It doesn't really matter," He said. Bet it mattered when you had that stupid Alice girl with you! Cheshire thought. "Separate then," She said crossly. She didn't want to have to be too close to him for a minute or she might hurt him.

"We should probably get the horse I brought too," He said, getting on one of the Flamingos.

"You get the horse and I'll meet you back at the fortress," Cheshire said as she got onto the other.

Hatter looked at her. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Cheshire looked directly ahead and not at him. "Never better," She lied and flew off.

Hatter looked after her for a moment, wondering why she seemed to be upset with him. What is it with women? he wondered, You save their lives and all it does is make them mad at you. He started his own Flamingo and took off.

* * *

**Don't worry. The story gets better and my writing gets better.**

**Big thanks to my beta reader and friend, Kandis (.net/u/2348507/ConnorTempleHatterPotts)**

**Please review! Feel free to be as brutally honest as possible. I personally don't think that the story is very good until about Chapter 7 so please keep reading, I promise it gets better.**

**V **


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The more Cheshire thought about it, the angrier she got.

Of all the women that Hatter could have proposed to, why in Wonderland did he choose Alice? _Alice_!

"She's rude," Cheshire found herself thinking out loud, "she's not at all attractive, she's untrusting, untrust_worthy_, ungrateful, always getting into trouble. On top of that she's an _oyster!_ She's just a…" Cheshire stopped when she saw something out of the corner of her eye and looked around.

She was passing the Looking Glass House and saw a much too familiar figure coming out.

"Speak of the devil," Cheshire scowled and drove the Flamingo over to Alice.

* * *

Alice had turned around and gone back through the Looking Glass as soon as she reached the oyster world. She ran out of the Looking Glass House trying to find Hatter and saw the Casino. "Oh my God." She said to herself. "Hatter was right! Oh God, how am I going to find him?"

She looked around and then saw something zooming toward her. It got closer and closer until she saw that it was a young woman a few years older then herself riding a flamingo.

She landed the flamingo easily next to Alice and climbed off then just stood leaning against it with her arms crossed and watched Alice.

"Hello, Alice." She said, giving her a sarcastic smile, "How are you doing?" She was wearing black lace tights and 4 inch heal boots along with a blue mini skirt with black lace that gave it a tutu look and a black leather jacket over a very low cut shirt that was the same color blue as her skirt and her hair. She had the kind of perfect hourglass figure that most women would kill for and an almost feline beauty that looked strangely familiar to Alice though she couldn't remember ever seeing this woman before in her life.

"Who are you?" Alice demanded.

"How rude!" The woman said, she had a slightly child like voice and the same heavy Wonderland accent as Hatter. "I ask you a question, and you respond with another question. And the question I asked was about you! I didn't ask how _I _was doing. Ah, but now I see." she laughed, "Of course! The answer to my question depends on the answer to yours!" She sighed. "Very well. My name is Cheshire, I'm a member of the Resistance, and I'm an old friend of Hatter's." The woman (Cheshire) continued to talk but as she spoke her voice grew higher and higher and she talked faster and faster until Alice couldn't understand a word she said which confused and slightly frightened her.

Cheshire closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in frustration. Then said very slowly, "Look, Alice, I'm already in a bad mood because you're fiancé-" (the word came out as a disgusted hiss) "-is an idiot! Now are you coming or not?"

Alice looked at Cheshire, then looked at the Flamingo, then looked over the side of the sidewalk. She grabbed onto the wall and shook her head. Cheshire sighed in aggravation. "Alice, do you want to see your idiot or not?"

"You know where Hatter is?" Alice said, looking at her.

"That's what I just implied." Cheshire said, "Now are you coming?"

"Will you tell me where he is?"

"No! I'm not going to _tell _you!" Cheshire said, exasperated, "I can ether show you or… you know what? Forget it." Cheshire got back on the Flamingo, "You go back to your world and Hatter can stay here and help fix mine."

"No! Wait!" Alice grabbed hold of the Flamingo so that Cheshire couldn't get away, "Take me to Hatter!"

Cheshire was about to push the button but Alice put her hand in front of it so that she couldn't.

Cheshire glared at her. Alice glared back. In all honesty she really didn't want to go anywhere with this strange woman but she knew where Hatter was and was probably her only hope to find him.

Cheshire muttered something under her breath that sounded like a curse Alice had heard Hatter use several times. "Fine." She said, moving forward, "Get on."

Alice climbed onto the Flamingo. "Try not to touch me." Cheshire said and started the Flamingo.

Of course Alice grabbed hold of her so that she wouldn't fall off and she could feel Cheshire cringed at her touch.

* * *

After they'd been flying for awhile Cheshire suddenly had an idea. A terribly brilliant idea. She looked down at a tree about 200 feet away.

"Alice?" she shouted over the wind, "Want to have a little fun."

"What do you mean 'fun'?" Alice replied warily.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'!" Cheshire turned the Flamingo upside down, and then concentrated on moving her body to the tree, but leaving the palms of her hands, her eyes and her smile. She looked around at Alice who was clinging to the Flamingo for dear life.

Alice stared at Cheshire's floating eyes and mouth in terror and said something that Cheshire couldn't hear, but looking at her lips it was something like: "What the hell!"

Cheshire smiled and winked. Then she brought her eyes and mouth back to her body.

Because she'd left the palms of her hands holding the Flamingo she could still control it. She made it jerk up and down, flip over and come up again. Even from so far away Cheshire could still hear Alice's screams of fear and couldn't stop herself from laughing.

When the flamingo flew out of Cheshire's sight she moved herself back to the Flamingo, still laughing a little.

Alice was terrified.

"Oh come on Alice!" Cheshire said, "Just a bit of fun!"

"I have a thing about _flying_!" Alice said.

Cheshire looked around at her wearing a _big_ smile. "I know!" she said, "Oh look! We're nearly there!" And so they were. The forest was coming up quickly.

"Want to have just a little bit more fun?" Cheshire asked.

"No!" Alice said.

"Was that a 'yes'?" Cheshire asked.

"_No_!" Alice screamed.

"Alright then!" Cheshire said, "Hold on!"

Alice screamed as Cheshire drove the Flamingo straight into the trees, pulling up just in time to save them from crashing into the ground.

Alice got off the Flamingo as fast as she could. She looked terrified.

Cheshire was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. Not only did she enjoy the almost crash landing but she took great pleasure in Alice's _dis_pleasure.

"Co-Come on!" she said still laughing, "Let's find Hatter."

Alice looked at her. "No way!" she said,hysterical "I don't even think you know where Hatter is! You just want to kill me! You're insane! Completely insane!"

"Alright," Cheshire said, "I'll leave you on your own, then. Good bye! Oh and when a jabberwock comes by, I'm sure it'll be _far_ less likely to kill you then I will." She gave Alice a sideways glance and started to walk away. Then said over her shoulder, "Same thing with a bandersnatch!"

"What's a bandersnatch?" came Alice's voice.

"Deadly!" Cheshire answered.

Just as she thought, Alice came running up behind her.

"Alright! I'm coming!" she said.

Cheshire turned and looked at her, giving her a sarcastically shocked smile. "You mean you're going to travel with someone who's insane?"

"Better then being eaten." Alice said.

"Fair enough." Cheshire said and continued walking.

"Where are we going?" Alice asked.

"Stop talking." Cheshire said.

"Why?"

"Because your voice is starting to annoy me." Cheshire said.

They walked in silence for a while, they weren't too far from the Fortress when…

"Alice?"

Cheshire and Alice looked around to see Hatter dismounting his horse. He looked worried and a little confused.

"Hatter!" Alice said and ran to embrace him.

Cheshire looked away. Her stomach was going into a knot. She shouldn't have brought Alice to the forest. She shouldn't have told Alice she knew where Hatter was but most of all she shouldn't have even gone over to Alice when she'd seen her. The more she thought about it the more stupid she felt.

"Alice, I told you to go home! It's way too dangerous!" Hatter's words made Cheshire turn around. He didn't want Alice there! Even if he just didn't want her there because of the danger, he still didn't want her there!

"Hatter, I'm not leaving you!" Alice said.

"He's right, Alice." Cheshire said, "You'll be safer in your world!"

"I'm not going any where!" Alice said.

"Alice, please!" Hatter begged, "Just go home! I'll never forgive myself if you get hurt."

"Listen to your fiancé!" Cheshire said.

Alice looked at Hatter. "I'm not leaving! I'm going to stay here and help!"

Hatter sighed. "Fine." He said.

Cheshire snapped her head up and looked and Hatter. "What?" she said, "Hatter, no. It-it's _much _too dangerous for her here!"

Hatter looked over at Cheshire a little supersized. "I know, but she's not going to leave."

Cheshire looked at the man she loved more anything in the worlds then looked at the woman she _hated_ more then anything in the worlds. She turned around and started to walk to the Fortress.

"Hold on, Cheshire." Hatter said, grabbing hold of her arm. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Nothing!" Cheshire said, hoping he wouldn't notice the falseness of her words.

"Don't lie to me, Cheshire." he said, "You've been acting weird since we were at the Casino."

"I'm fine." Cheshire said. "I'm just tired, that's all. If you hadn't noticed I've had kind of a long day."

Hatter looked at her for a moment. Cheshire knew he could tell something was up with her (he'd always been able to tell) but he also knew that if she hadn't told him already she wasn't going to. "Alright, fine." he let go of her arm. "I'll talk to you later, then, yeah?"

"Yeah." Cheshire smiled sweetly until she turned her back. Then it became more frustrated.

* * *

"Cheshire!" Duchess said when she saw her.

Cheshire smiled. "Hello, Duchess."

Duchess gave Cheshire a hug that she didn't want or returen. "So Hatter got you out!" she said, "Thank God. I was getting worried."

"Thanks, but I really need to go lie down right now." Cheshire hadn't been lying when she'd told Hatter she was tired. Evaporating really took a lot out of her and she'd been doing a lot more than was healthy after being tortured.

"Oh, of course!" Duchess said, "I'll tell Jack that you're back."

"Thank you, Duchess." Cheshire said.

* * *

_What am I going to do! _Cheshire thought as she walked through the Fortress to her one room cottage near the stables, _Hatter thinks he loves her! He wants to _marry_ her! There's no way this will last. And I won't stand to see Hatter's heart broken. _

Jealousy wasn't the only reason she hated Alice. She knew that Alice was no good, and she had never been wrong about anyone before.

"I have to split them up." Cheshire said. She found her hut then went inside and laid down on the bed, already starting to make a plan.

Cheshire closed her eyes and smiled. Hatter was back, and soon, if all went well, everything would be back to the way things used to be if not better.

* * *

**Hope you're sill enjoying my story! Please don't hate Cheshire for not liking Alice, but if she liked Alice this story wouldn't exist!**

**Please review! Tell me what you think. Hate it? Love it? Was it "just ok"? Come on! Help me out here!**

**For the people that have just been re-reading the past 4 chapters and prologue, YOU ARE FINALLY GOING TO GET SOMETHING NEW! Isn't it great?**

**Please hang in there. It'll get better in just a few more chapters.**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Cheshire opened her eyes and stretched. She hadn't slept that well in _years_! Even the night before, when she'd tasted the PEACE, she hadn't slept so well. She got up and stepped out of her hut, blinking a little in the sunlight.

Hatter was walking by but stopped when he saw her.

"Oh good," he said walking over to her, "You're awake. I've been wanting to talk with you.

Cheshire smiled. "No good morning?" She asked.

Hatter smiled back. "Actually," he said, "It's good afternoon."

Cheshire stared at him. "But it was barely night when I fell asleep!" she said, "How could I have slept that long!"

"You must have been more tired then you thought!" Hatter laughed.

"You could have woke me." Cheshire said.

"Ha! The last time I can remember trying to wake you up, you tried to break my nose!" Hatter laughed.

Cheshire laughed too. "I don't remember that." She said.

"You wouldn't!" Hatter said, "You were half asleep and I think you were 12."

"Anyways!" Cheshire said, "You said you wanted to talk to me? What about?"

Hatter's expression became serous, "When we were at the Casino." He said.

"You mean the Evaporating thing?" Cheshire asked.

"Well, yes," Hatter said though something else seemed to be bothering him, "that _did_ bother me a bit, but, what I wanted to talk about first was… the flirting."

Cheshire couldn't help smirking. "Bother you?" she asked.

"Well," Hatter said, "seeing as throughout your teen years you never showed the slightest interest in romance, yes it _did_ gave me a bit of a shock."

Cheshire sighed. "Right." She said, "Well, you might as well sit down, it's a long story. I started doing it for a distraction 6 years ago."

"When the Queen took power." Hatter said.

"Yeah, The Resistance was going to steal some of the teas from a tea shop when it was closed. The plan was that Duchess was going to create a distraction with the shop keeper and Jack, Charlie and I, would sneak in and steal the emotions.

"We were about to leave when we realized that Duchess was the former queen of Wonderland and would be recognized. The plan was flawless, otherwise, though so I… well… I was the only one left that looked alright in a mini-skirt." Cheshire laughed a little though her mood was dark.

"Well," Hatter said, grinning at her, "I can imagine _Jack_ might."

Cheshire burst out laughing. It wasn't really that funny, but she hadn't _really_ laughed in 12, and years once she started she just couldn't stop.

When she finally regained control over herself, Cheshire continued: "Anyways, Duchess showed me how to be… well… flirty. We went to the tea shop and the distraction went just about the same way it went back at the Casino, only then I wasn't quite as good."

Cheshire gave a little shudder. "Honestly! You have no _idea _how repulsive some of these men are!" she said putting her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees, "And I have to talk to them like _that_! It's _discussing_! _And _dangerous! I'm _literally _flirting with disaster!"

Cheshire was the only person that could look absolutely miserable with a smile on her face. Hatter put a hand on her shoulder in sympathy and she immediately felt better.

"So this Evaporating thing." He said, "How exactly does it work?"

Cheshire brightly happed. "That," she said, "Is a topic that is much more complex and yet much more fun! What do you want to know about it? Just to narrow down the explanation."

"If you can do that why didn't you just Evaporate out of the Casino?" Hatter asked.

"Ah, a perfect question!" Cheshire said, "I didn't because I _couldn't_! It would deify every impossibility there is in Evaporating!"

"There are impossibilities?" Hatter asked.

"Of course!" Cheshire said, "The first impossibility is that I can only Evaporate as far as I can see, and I can't Evaporate through a door or a window unless it's open. Do you understand?"

Before he could answer she continued: "It's like every molecule in your body separates into atoms (in fact that's _exactly _what it's like) and is blown to where you want to be, and, obviously, you can't blow through a solid wall."

"Ok," Hatter said, nodding, "that seems right."

"Good. The second impossibility is I can't Evaporate when I'm tied to something, which doesn't even make sense to me so I can hardly explain it to you. So-"

"Wait, wait." Hatter said, "How did you find out it was impossible?"

Cheshire looked away from him. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why?"

"Because if I answer your question it'll probably change the subject, so I'll give you an answer after I finish with _this_ topic, yeah?"

"Fine." Hatter said, wondering what her answer would be, "What other impossibilities are there?"

"Well, there's only one more that's really important but it's not really impossible, just something that's not a very smart thing to do." Cheshire said, "You see, I was really very weak when I was in there, and Evaporating requires a lot of energy that I didn't have. You know how tiring it is to run a long way, not stopping to breathe? Take that feeling and double it twice and that's how much energy it takes to Evaporate. But it really depends on how far you're going."

"Hmm." Hatter said. It made perfect sense but at the same time it made absolutely no sense at all.

"Do you understand?" Cheshire asked.

"I think so." Hatter said.

"Good." Cheshire smiled.

"Now are you going to answer my question?" Hatter asked.

Cheshire sighed and seemed to think about it. "Can we just say that Jack can be really immature?" she said.

Hatter looked at her. "You're saying that Jack tied you up and when you tried to Evaporate you realized you couldn't?" He said.

"Yep," Cheshire said, "That's it."

Hatter raised and eyebrow. "Nice story, but how did you _really_ find out?"

"Come on!" Cheshire said, "That's what happened!"

Hatter looked at her. "Jack might be an idiot, but that's just not something he'd do."

"Why do you want to know so badly?" Cheshire demanded.

"Because you're avoiding it so much!" said Hatter, "Now just tell me!"

Cheshire looked at him. "You _sure _you want to know?"

"Yes." Hatter said.

"You absolutely positive?"

"Yes!"

"Are you _sure _that you're absolutely positive?"

"Cheshire!"

"Alright, fine!" Cheshire said, and then quickly said, "Caterpillar told me."

Hatter looked at her. "What do you mean?" he said, "You never knew Caterpillar did you?"

"Yes," Cheshire said, "I did. I knew him since I was 8. He found me and taught me how to Evaporate. He knew my family, you see. When every one was saying that he was dead, I was the only one that knew he was alive. He didn't kill himself, he just Evaporated as far as he could."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Hatter asked.

"Well," Said Cheshire, "I thought you'd react a lot differently."

Hatter looked at her. "How'd you think I'd react?"

"Get angry." Cheshire said, "Yell at me maybe."

"Well, it would have certainly made my life easier if I had known the leader of the Resistance all those years." He said, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Dodo would have killed me." Cheshire said. "And, to be completely honest, no one in the Resistance liked you, let alone trusted you, apart from Doormie and me."

"But how come-" Hatter began.

"No." Cheshire said putting her finger over Hatter's mouth, "I'm not going to answer any more questions about Caterpillar or the Resistance. So if you ask me another I'm leaving."

Hatter pulled her finger from his mouth. "Fine." He said, "So can any one learn how to Evaporate?"

"No." Cheshire said, "Some people are just born with the capability to do it, it has to do with brain power, but other people have to eat a kind mushroom to stimulate the cells that separate the atoms though Caterpillar never told me what kind of mushroom... and he died years ago so I can't ask him..." Cheshire's smile turned sad.

"So you were born with the ability?" Hatter said trying to take her mind off unpleasant thoughts.

"Yep." Cheshire said, "I was running away from Suits when Caterpillar found me. I was running past the Hospital of Dreams and had a wish that I could get to the other side of the sidewalk and some how I accidently Evaporated just outside the door to the Hospital. Caterpillar brought me inside and started talking to me and telling me who he was and what I could do. Then when we were done talking he told me how to reconnect my arm outside to the rest of my body, and-"

"Hold on a minute." Hatter interrupted, "What do you mean reconnect your arm to the rest of your body?"

"When I Evaporated I didn't move my whole body." She explained, "I left my arm behind. _Really_ hurt! If you can imagine having your arm cut off and still being able to feel it you should have a good idea of how it felt."

"So you can separate parts of your body?" Hatter asked, "That's… interesting…"

"It might sound weird but it's helpful sometimes." Cheshire said, "I can leave my feet so that I'm safely on the ground and stand on air."

"Like at the Casino." Hatter said.

"Exactly," Cheshire confirmed, "and, if I leave, say, the tip of one of my fingers outside and the door closes, I can still get out by Reconnecting."

"I see." Hatter said.

Cheshire was enjoying this conversation. It was just like old times. Her and Hatter. Talking one on one.

Then Cheshire heard her least favorite sound in the worlds: Alice's voice.

"Hatter?" it called, "Where are you?"

Alice appeared in the doorway. "Oh there you are!" She said, then seeing Cheshire added: "Ah, the zombie lives!"

This statement (that, obviously from Alice's tone of voice, was meant to insult her) completely confused poor Cheshire. "Zombie?" she repeated, "What's a zombie?"

"You don't know what a zombie is?" Alice laughed.

"It's a term for when a dead body comes back to life in a way." Hatter told her, "Something from Alice's world."

Cheshire's eyes grew wide. "There are dead people walking around the oyster world?!" she said.

"No," Hatter said, calming her down, "no it's just a myth."

"And people say Wonderland is weird…" Cheshire shook her head.

"Anyways, Hatter," Alice said, "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk?"

"Actually," Cheshire said before he could answer, "I was hopping we could practice fighting today, Hatter." She gave him her most persuasive smile. "You _really _need it. Going a whole year without fighting…" she made a tisk-tisk nose.

Hatter looked at Alice then at Cheshire and she got an idea. "You're welcome to come, Alice. But I think Duchess is going to want your help with something. And you've had Hatter all to yourself for a year and I haven't seen him in 12." Cheshire gave Alice a joking smile, "don't be so selfish!" she laughed a little.

Alice sighed. "Alright fine." She said, "See you later, Hatter." She kissed him on the cheek and he took her head in his hands and kissed her mouth. Cheshire's stomach clenched and she resisted the urge to push Alice away from Hatter.

"See you, love." Hatter said when they drew apart.

"Alright, lover boy." Cheshire took Hatter by the arm began to pull him to the place where she and the others practiced, "Let's get you your skills back!"

…

**Finally! A new chapter! Hope you're as excited about it as I am. Coming up in the next chapter: Cheshire and Hatter practice fighting and an all too familiar face reappears…**

**Please review!**

**V**


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